Sacramento – More than 150 people attended a well-received workshop Saturday sponsored by Assembly Member Anna Caballero to learn how to protect their homes from foreclosure – and what to do if they are already in the foreclosure process.

The workshop was held in the city of Soledad in response to local requests by the Chamber of Commerce for help in dealing with the local impacts of a growing number of home foreclosures.  City officials and local chamber of commerce representatives were also on hand to support the effort to provide information to concerned homeowners.

Originally scheduled for the Soledad City Hall, the workshop was shifted to the Soledad YMCA when early registration indicated an overflow crowd would attend. 

The concerns about foreclosure are fueled by the large number of high interest subprime mortgages issued by lenders in recent years, most of which carry adjustable rates.  State officials estimate that 500,000 subprime mortgages in California will reset to higher monthly payments during the next 18 months, and that 25 percent of households – 125,000 – could then default.

“This may look like a problem that is isolated to people who signed up for bad loans,” said Assembly Member Caballero.  “But the financial impacts are going to be felt all over the state and are reverberating around the entire world.  It’s in everyone’s interest to try to fix this financial crisis.”

Saturday’s workshop featured speakers from the Homeowners’ Rescue Alliance of San Jose and Pleasanton.  Presenting information in both English and Spanish, the speakers covered topics such as “Understanding the Current Real Estate Trend,” “How Consumers Are Affected by the Down Turn of the Market,” “How to Avoid a Foreclosure and Short Sale on your Credit,” and “Life after a Short Sale Transaction.” 

Caballero discussed recent initiatives by Gov. Schwarzenegger and President Bush to delay rate adjustments in mortgage payments for borrowers who are current with their payments. 

“These efforts may help some homeowners, but for many who are already in crisis, the help is too late and families risk losing their homes,” said Caballero.

Caballero also discussed the package of bills she and other Assembly Democrats are working on to crack down on predatory lending practices and create new protections for home buyers.

“We have to look forward, at the same time we work to help people hang onto their homes,” said Caballero.  “The scale of this crisis is huge.  It’s now clear that lenders were simply writing lots of very risky, bad loans – and in the process, the economy will feel the impact and cause a slow down, which hurts everyone.”